Paul Merson claims Mourinho helped £29m Liverpool’s ace confidence return in ‘five minutes’

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Paul Merson told Soccer Saturday on Sky Sports (31/12/21 at 12:50 pm) that Roberto Firmino’s confidence came back in ‘five minutes’ on Thursday night because of Jose Mourinho’s tactics against Liverpool.

The Sky pundit thinks the Tottenham boss was ‘more worried’ about Liverpool’s forward line, which then helped the away team to dominate the midfield and allow their front three to sing and dance.

Firmino was the one who opened the scoring in midweek as Liverpool’s previously confidence-stricken attackers came back to life.

This is what Merson had to say about Mourinho’s tactics against Liverpool and Firmino enjoying himself.

“Where he got it wrong is that he was more worried about the front three,” said Merson. “He was more worried about the front three, the other night.

“And he let the midfield get overpowered. By that time, the midfield got overpowered, the defenders, I mean Firmino fancied it, didn’t he?

“His confidence came back in five minutes. He’s dropping off and thinking ‘I am not getting kicked here’. Then he’s nutmegging and no-one went in with him. And I thought fair play to him.”

Over the course of the season, there have been two periods where Firmino’s form has dipped – at the start of the campaign and most recently.

When the technically-gifted Brazil international is in form then it makes Liverpool’s forward line tick and that was proven against Spurs.

The key thing for the £29 million man [BBC Sport] is that his first touch is back and that is allowing him to flow in his own way.